GunnLeif Merl II 35^VIII

‘Grenja gránir         garmar slíðra;
bítr fránn freki         ferð halsgerðar.
Rýfr gramr guma         gollorhallir;
bregðr benlogi         byggðum hjarna;
eru brotnar mjǫk         borgir heila.

‘{Gránir garmar slíðra} grenja; {fránn freki halsgerðar} bítr ferð. Gramr rýfr {gollorhallir} guma; {benlogi} bregðr {byggðum hjarna}; {borgir heila} eru mjǫk brotnar.

‘{The grey dogs of scabbards} [SWORDS] growl; {the piercing wolf of the neck-strap} [SWORD] bites the army. The cruel one <sword> breaks men’s {halls of the pericardium} [BREASTS]; {the wound-flame} [SWORD] topples {the settlements of brains} [HEADS]; {the strongholds of brains} [HEADS] are smashed to pieces.

Mss: Hb(50r) (Bret)

Editions: Skj AII, 16-17, Skj BII, 17, Skald II, 11; Bret 1848-9, II, 28 (Bret st. 35); Hb 1892-6, 274-5; Merl 2012, 99-100.

Notes: [All]: See Note to II 31 [All]. The verbs describing the action of the battle are chosen with regard to the base-words of each sword-kenning in ll. 1-4, creating a metaphorical congruence between them; thus ‘dogs’ growl and the ‘wolf’ bites. The substantivised adj. gramr ‘the cruel one’ (l. 5), taken here as a sword-heiti, is said to break men’s breasts, with the rib-cage possibly in mind. In ll. 7-10 the sword-kennings again show a congruence between base-word and verb; the ‘flame’ topples heads, represented as tall buildings being engulfed by fire, and, using similar imagery, ‘strongholds’ are smashed to pieces. It is possible that Gunnlaugr had mythological referents in mind when he wrote of ‘dogs’ (garmar, l. 2) and a wolf (freki, lit. ‘greedy one’ or ‘bold one’, l. 3), because Garmr is the name of a mythical dog in eddic poetry (Vsp 44/1, 58/1; cf. SnE 2005, 34, 59), while Freki is the name of one of Óðinn’s wolves (SnE 2005, 32; Þul Vargs 1/5^III; cf. Vsp 44/2). Gramr (l. 5) may also be reminiscent of the name of the hero Sigurðr’s sword (cf. Reg prose (NK 177) and Þul Sverða 1/5^III.  — [6]: This is the reading of the ms, here unrefreshed, reported by Bret 1848-9 and Hb 1892-6. The contraction for ‑ir is visible above and to the left of following b-. On grounds that remain unclear, Merl 2012 would read and retain the sg. form gollorhall, which, aside from being contrary to the ms. evidence, also disrupts the metre. For this type of kenning, compare Note to I 82/8. Merl 2012 incorrectly glosses gollor- as ‘heart’. — [7] benlogi ‘the wound-flame [SWORD]’: De Vries (1964-7, II, 75 n. 180) compares HHund I 51/9.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
4. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
5. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
6. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
8. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=125> (accessed 19 April 2024)
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Vargs heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 903.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 790.
13. Not published: do not cite ()
14. Not published: do not cite ()